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Dr. John Harte (c) M. C. Tobias

Dr. John Harte is based at the University of California-Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management. With a PhD in physics, his research encompasses the most serious biochemical and climate-ecosystem feedback processes of global warming and theoretical ecology. He has been at the forefront, for decades, of some of the most important studies pertaining to the biological impacts – particularly in alpine environments – of climate change, as well as humanity’s role in the disruption of critical ecosystems.

I have had the privilege of working twice with Dr. Harte during the last eight months: once for a day filming our three-hour Dancing Star Foundation TV series, “State of the Earth” and then again this July at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory above Crested Butte, Colorado, where Dr. Harte and colleagues have been monitoring climate, soil and biological changes for nearly two decades. His profound, interdisciplinary understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change are urgent news, beyond anything you may yet have heard about. For that reason I urge you to read the following carefully - you will be tested (in some form or other).

A Feedback Fiasco

Michael Tobias (MT): John, let’s cut to the chase here. While there are still some individuals in stubborn denial, even amongst those who do know how serious climate change is, there are many who still don’t quite recognize just how rapidly the situation has escalated, for the worse. In your opinion, why is the global climate over the next century likely to be even hotter than what most climate scientists are currently predicting?

John Harte (JH): Climate science calculates what the future climate will look like using the basic laws of physics. The most trusted and largest group of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), summarizes the results of these calculations and concludes that under “business as usual” trends in fossil fuel consumption, by 2050 the planet will on average have warmed between 3 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit.

MT: And the key reasons?

JH: That warming is the result of both the direct heat-trapping effect of greenhouse gases and certain feedback processes. The latter will increasingly occur in response to the direct warming, causing further warming.